80 Fun and crazy facts about Las Vegas, (part 2)

Las Vegas is one of the most dazzling cities in the world, a mecca of gambling and entertainment that attracts millions of tourists every year. In this blog, we'll continue our look at fun, crazy, and fascinating facts about Las Vegas. To read the first 35, click on part 1 of this blog. 

46. If one person wanted to stay one night in every hotel in Las Vegas it would take them 288 years.

47. A 2013 study revealed that 15% of people come to Las Vegas with intentions to gamble, but 71% actually gamble during their stay.

48. The Bellagio Hotel has more rooms (3,933) than residents in Bellagio, Italy, for which it’s named.

49. Most of the water features like fountains, waterfalls, and man-made lakes in Vegas use grey water, which is recycled from sinks, tubs, and showers.

50. Plenty of people try to cheat and rob the casinos in Las Vegas, but 34% of those incidents are perpetrated by staff and employees of those establishments, not outsiders.

51. Every day, more than 60,000 pounds of cocktail shrimp are consumed in Las Vegas, which is more than the rest of the U.S. combined.

52. The Stratosphere Hotel in Las Vegas stands 1,100 feet tall, the highest building west of the Mississippi and the 5^th highest in the U.S.

53. A marriage license costs only $60 in Nevada and there is no requirement for a blood test or any waiting period.

54. What happens in Clark County…? Few people realize that the legendary Vegas Strip actually mostly sits in neighboring Clark County, not within the Las Vegas city limits.

55. The Nevada Test Site lies about 65 miles north of Las Vegas, home to more than 100 above-ground nuclear tests our government performed between 1952-1962. 

56. The bomb blasts were made public and spawned Atomic Tourism, where people would watch the show from the rooftops, decorate their bars and restaurants with atomic themes, and dedicate parties to witnessing the atomic blasts.

57. During the era of the nuclear scare, a wealth businessman built a 16,500 square foot mansion underground beneath Las Vegas, with a swimming pool, putting green, and other luxury amenities, along with plenty of stored food and water to keep him alive for decades in case of a nuclear war.

58. The rise of modern-day Las Vegas from a dusty desert town in the 1940s is largely thanks to Mafia gangsters Meyer Lansky and Benjamin Hymen Siegelbaum, known as Bugsy Siegel, who brought together mob families, movie and music stars, and business people to get the Flamingo hotel and casino built.

59. Bugsy Siegel reportedly got inspiration for the name “Flamingo” from the long legs of his showgirl girlfriend.

60. The list of power players who held a tight grip on Vegas business and development reads like a list of kings in any monarchy. Steve Wynn started out as an apprecintice to the incumbant Frank Rosentha, but eventually “dethroned” him.

61. Wynn now serves as chairman of Mirage Resorts, and the MGM Grand, which is the most successful hotel in the world.

62. But not all Vegas legends were auspicious gambling tycoons, gangsters and wheelers and dealers.  A virtual unknown named E. Parry Thomas is given credit for helping Vegas develop into what it is today because he was the only banker in town at the time who would loan money to build casinos.

63. Almost everything is a gamble in Vegas but there’s one sure thing – that a whole lot of people will be hungover every morning. To help them recover, there’s actually a service that comes to their hotel and hooks up an IV with fluids and vitamins!

64. All the fun isn’t in the casinos and clubs in Las Vegas; a heavy equipment playground lets people drive around bulldozers and other heavy machinery just for kicks.

65. Legend has it that there’s an entire secret city buried under Las Vegas and guess what? The legend is true! Nearly 1,000 people inhabit a massive tunnel system that runs under the casinos, most of them living and sleeping under there full time, even with pets and whole families. The city knows about it, of course, and has outreach programs that try to bring them above ground and integrated into shelters or society.

66.Outside the Paris hotel in Vegas stands a monumental replica of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It was originally slated to be a full size rendition, but because it was near an airport and might interfere with the flight path of planes, it was shrunk to a ½ size scale during construntion.

67.Pop icon Michael Jackson had plans to build a robot likeness in Las Vegas in 2007 as a tourist attraction. The robot was reportedly to be 50-feet high and able to moon walk through the desert.

68. In 2007, Michael Jackson had plans to build a 50-foot tall moon walking robot, a replica of himself to roam the desert sands of Las Vegas.

69. A lot of people don’t know that the majority of casinos in Las Vegas will cash in chips from their competitors.

70. Las Vegas may be known for great eatieries and fine dining, but no one accused them of being health conscious. For instance, at the the Heart Attack Grill in that city, any patron weighing over 350 pounds eats for free and a popular item on the menu is called the “Quadruple Bypass Burger,” which is more than 8,000 calories!

71. Thanks to their close relationship from encouraging tourism, Las Vegas holds the unofficial designation of being Hawaii’s 9th island.

72. Vegas is so brightly lit at night that you can actually see the lights from outer space.

73. The Great Recession hit Las Vegas particularly hard, as most people opted to stay home and financially conservative as the economy faltered. But now, Las Vegas tourism is back and just as big as ever.

74. In fact, construction was under way on the Harmon Hotel, the largest private funded construction project in U.S. history. Once completed, it would have 400 hotel rooms, 207 condo suites, casinos, and a full shopping mall. But that will never happen because the project’s developers and contractors were accused of falsifying 62 reports and compromising the safety of the structure to pocket money. So the ill-fated hotel was demolished in 2012 before it ever opened its doors.

75. Casinos employ all sorts of subtle tactics to keep customers inside their establishments gambling away. In fact, the casinos in Vegas have no clocks, keeping people disconnected from reality so they’ll keep spending money instead of leaving.

76. There are also no windows in casinos so people can’t tell the passing of time by day or night.

77. Casinos design their interior floor plans like mazes so people can’t exit easily.

78. And the best tactic of all, casinos give free alcohol to patrons who are gambling, which encourages them to stay and “helps” them make bad decisions and fosters sloppy play. The House always wins!

79. They’ll bet on just about anything in Vegas, though sometimes it crosses the line. In 1980, a hospital there suspended workers who were betting on when patients would die. One nurse was even accused of killing patients to help win bets.

80. Other than casinos and nightlife on the Strip, the Hoover Dam is the largest tourist attraction in or around Las Vegas. The Dam was competed in 1935 after The Hoover Dam was completed in 1935 after 21,000 men worked on it for 5 years, and regulates water to make the region habitable.